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In Theaters: Spy

McCarthy Fans Will Like It

Film

Main Plot Points:

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is an unassuming, deskbound CIA analyst, and the unsung hero behind the Agency’s most dangerous missions.

But when her partner (Jude Law) falls off the grid and another top agent (Jason Statham) is compromised, she volunteers to go deep undercover to infiltrate the world of a deadly arms dealer, and prevent a global disaster.

What We Thought:

Spy was a little better than I thought it would be. Something about the trailers just didn’t make it seem all that appealing, but I can admit I laughed more than expected.

I like Melissa McCarthy personally. I’ve worked with her, she’s an absolute sweetheart. But I haven’t liked the past few comedies she’s put out. I didn’t think much of Identity Thief and Tammy was really bad. Although I thought she was fantastic in St. Vincent.

I think that’s why I wasn’t all that pumped for this one, it looked like a lot of her other projects. I’ve seen her be a great actress in smaller films, but I’m tired of these types of “big” comedies where she’s always falling down and being loud and in your face.

Sure she is quite physical in this and she falls down a bunch, but the supporting cast helps soften the blow I guess. I love Rose Byrne, no seriously I do and I’m super jealous of Bobby Cannavale because of it. Byrne flips sides this time around going from the polite, soft spoken, lady like character in Bridesmaids to a cursing, gun shooting, bad girl in this. I thought she was really funny and might be the best part of the film.

You know who is also quite funny in this? Jason Statham. Yeah, that Jason Statham. He’s surprisingly funny opposite McCarthy in a lot of scenes. He continuously talks about not getting killed and all the things he’s survived. If it wasn’t for Byrne, Statham would steal the film.

Of course I had some problems with the film. I thought Bridesmaids was laugh out loud funny and I keep expecting that from Paul Feig. The Heat has laughs, this has laughs, but I want more laughs than I keep getting. There’s a continuing joke about bats and mice in the basement that didn’t really seem to pan out (or I missed the punch line). You get a lot of jokes about McCarthy’s looks and weight and it just feels repetitive at times.

Spy will probably do pretty well. McCarthy has a solid fandom at this point and it is funnier than expected. The audience seemed to love it and other people I talked to thought it was better than I did. Maybe my sense of humor has changed or something because a lot of these jokes don’t seem to work for me. I might chuckle, but just don’t seem to laugh out loud and clap like the audience does anymore.